Historical and statistical soccer stories from all over the world, old and a bit older.

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Saturday, May 11, 2013

Refik Resmja (Partizani Tirana), 1951

Albanian striker Refik Resmja still
holds a formidable record for top level soccer. During the 1951 league season
he scored an amazing 59 goals for his club, Partizani Tirana. While playing
only 23 matches that season, his 2.57 goal average is better than anyone else
scoring over 50 league-goals in one season.

Teenage star

In 1951 19-year old Refik Resmja
(born August 13, 1931) was playing for Partizani Tirana, the Albanian army
team. In the previous year he was already top scorer of the league. But this
season his scoring spree was sensational. Below you can see his performance
match by match:

28-01-1951 Puna
Durrës – Partizani

0-6

1 goal

31-01-1951
Partizani – Puna Berat

14-0

7 goals

18-02-1951 Puna
Gjirokastër – Partizani

0-8

6 goals

25-02-1951
Partizani – Puna Fier

11-0

7 goals

04-03-1951
Partizani – Spartaku Qyteti Stalin

9-0

7 goals

12-03-1951 Puna
Kavajë – Partizani

0-6

4 goals

21-03-1951
Partizani – Puna Elbasan

2-0

1 goal

25-03-1951 Puna
Shkodër – Partizani

0-2

1 goal

04-04-1951
Partizani – Puna Vlorë

2-0

2 goals

15-04-1951
Partizani – Puna Durrës

6-0

3 goals

18-04-1951 Puna
Berat – Partizani

1-3

2 goals

06-05-1951
Partizani – Puna Tiranë

6-0

3 goals

13-05-1951 Spartak
Shkodër – Partizani

0-6

4 goals

20-05-1951
Partizani – Puna Gjirokastër

7-0

1 goal

27-05-1951 Puna
Fier – Partizani

0-6

4 goals

03-06-1951 Spartaku
Qyteti Stalin – Partizani

0-11

5 goals

10-06-1951
Partizani – Puna Kavajë

2-1

1 goal

Resmja didn’t score in six league
matches, and didn’t play on three occasions. That leaves him with 59 goals in
only 23 matches, an average of 2.57 goals per match. Much better than Scottish
American Archie Stark, who bagged in a world record of 67 league goals in one
season for Bethlehem Steel in 1924-25. His average is 1.52, as he played 44
league-matches. Lionel Messi’s 50 goals in 37 matches in 2011-12 only gives him
an average of 1.35.

Eight times top scorer

Resmja never again came close to his
own record, mostly scoring 15 to 25 goals a season in het following decade. He
did win the top scorer title eight times, won the national cup four times and
was champion of Albania seven times (1954, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1964).

That should have been nine times,
but for mysterious reasons in 1950 the Albanian FA decided that while both
Partizani and big rival Dinamo (the police club) earned 29 points during the
season, goal difference had to decide the champion. Partizani (77-10) was
clearly better than Dinamos (60-6), but the FA thought otherwise. They came up
with a strange mathematical calculation:

The same ‘mistake’ was made in 1952, when again Dinamo had a worse goalrecord
(74-9) compared with Partizani (96-15), but were pronounced champion using the
same reasoning.

Only five caps

Resmja was an prolific goalscorer
during his entire career, amassing a total of 180 league-goals. Probably even a
bit more, as not everything is well documented. Despite this achievement, he
isn’t considered the best striker ever of this tiny country in the Balkan
Peninsula. That would be his Partizani teammate Panajot Pano (1939-2010), who in
2004 was chosen by the Albanian FA as their Golden Player.

Internationally Resmja wasn’t very
successful. The national team in those days only played friendly games, giving
him a total of just five caps with one goal (in a 2-0 win against Poland).

Spartakiada 1958 and 1963

With his club Partizani Resmja did
surprisingly win silver medals at the Spartakiada 1958 and 1963.

In 1958 this tournament was held in
Leipzig and had only army clubs from communist countries as participants.
Partizani first won against The Cong Hanoi (Vietnam) 5-1 (Resmja scoring two
goals), then beat CCA Bucarest (Rumania) 1-0. In the quarterfinal Resmja scored
the winner in a 1-0 victory over Czech Dukla Prague, and Vorwärts Berlin from
East-Germany were beaten 2-1. So Partizani was in the final, but lost against
Bulgarian side CDNA Sofia (0-1).

Five years later, Partizani copied
that success in Hanoi, Vietnam, winning against CDNA Sofia (2-1), Honved
Budapest (4-0!), Vorwärts Berlin (3-1), and again Honved (this time 1-0) in the semifinal. In the final CSKA Moscow beat
them 2-0, after extra time.

Resmja played until the final, but
didn’t score. In his place, the new idol Panajot Pano made four goals. Seven
months later Resmja ended his soccer career, 33 years old.